66-year-old Subhash Palekar is also popularly known as “Krishi ka Rishi” by farming community across many parts of India because he is the brainchild of the Zero Budget Natural Farming model that has been able to bring a genesis in the farming method. And for this, Palekar won the Padma Shri award, making the farmer community of India proud.

Tryst with Chemical Farming

After completing his B.Sc in Agriculture in 1972, Palekar returned to his village Belora in Amravati, Maharashtra. He wanted to help his father and thus instructed him with new methods of fertilizers. Chemical fertilizers eventually gave a good production for almost a decade. But by 1985, the yield started to drop considerably with each passing days. And it was because of the chemical fertilizers. Thus began his quest to find a better alternative.

After extensive research, he tried to adopt the natural system that functions in forests, allowing to develop and nurture plants on its own. After experimenting with different techniques, Palekar came up with Zero Budget Natural Farming. The system, as the name suggests, involves a zero-budget, without spending money on fertilizers and pesticides, ensuring healthy growth of crops.

About Zero Budget Farming

Palekar draws his inspiration from ancient Indian farming techniques, at the heart of which is a formulation called ‘Jiwamrita’. The formulation contains a fermented solution containing 200 litres water, 5-10 litres cow urine, 10 kg dung, 1 kg each of gur (jaggery) and besan (gram flour), and a handful of soil from the farm bund — for every acre. The other important thing is to spread a carpet of harvested crop residue between crop rows, which helps to absorb moisture from the atmosphere and also prevents the emergence of weeds. The formula ensures healthy crop growth by nurturing thousands of essential bacteria. It can yield 5-6 quintals of cotton and 3-6 quintals of per acre in non-irrigated patches. On irrigated patches, these can go up to 10 quintals. The only cost incurred is the cost of buying seeds.

Popularity

Palekar’s work has been recognized by the Government of India. His findings have now benefited more than 40 lakh farmers in the country. Nowadays, he spends 25 days a month sharing his knowledge through seminars, lectures, workshops and field visits.

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Partner Story

An Army Colonel Is Changing Lives Of Thousand Of People From North-East Using White Bullets

Retiring after spending 32 years in the Indian Army, Col Chris Rego is helping change the destinies of hundreds of children in conflict-affected North East India through his “White Bullets” initiative. With this initiative, he hopes to bring peace and progress to communities across North East India.

Luminouswanted to bring out the Colonel’s story to the world to inspire and motivate others as it believes that education is a strong tool to empower women. It is supporting Col Rego’s cause through an initiative called #Luminaries – the brave people who stand up for causes like girl child education and make a difference in the society.

Col Rego’s journey started over a decade ago in Manipur when a tribal woman knocked on his door pleading for support for her daughter’s education. Touched by the woman’s story, Col Rego and his wife delved into their savings and arranged for the money for the girl’s education. Two years down the line, the woman returned, this time with a small pumpkin and a shawl that she had knitted, and all the money she had borrowed. Moved and realizing that their money could make lives rather than earn paltry interest, Col and Mrs. Rego embarked on a journey to arrange for sponsorship of many more underprivileged children.

Retiring from the Army, Col Rego took over as CEO of Sunbird Trust, a not-for-profit organization which he founded in 2014. The Trust now sponsor over 1,000 children in 21 locations acrossNorth East India. The centre of Sunbird Trust’s activities is at beautiful Ijeirong, Manipur.

Recognizing Col Chris’s immense work, Luminousacknowledged him as their first Luminary. Through this, they hope to bring more power to his elbow in the notable work he is doing. The Luminousteam travelled to remote Ijeirong village and installed solar products. These solar products will help in providing power to the entire campus 24/7 for the very first time.

The Logical Indian salutes Col Christopher Rego for his untiring efforts and leadership. His efforts are already having a cascading effect on people from across India joining the “White Bullets” endeavour. Quite amazingly, education, in itself so empowering, is merely a means to PEACE. We hope the path illuminated by #Luminary Col Rego and his Sunbird Trust team acts as a beacon for others to follow.

If you too have stories of change, share them with us. And if you want to connect with Colonel Rego, click here.